


ghost of the past

by SmonksTheMuse



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Force Ghost Qui-Gon Jinn, Gen, Yoda in particular was stupid as fuck, and it made Anakin sad and dysfunctional as fuck, basically a summary of Anakin's emotional state throughout the prequels, but the only two who actually appear are Luke and Qui-Gon, it ended up being seventy-three sentences longer than it was supposed to be anyway, the 'no attachments' rule is stupid as fuck, the Jedi in general were stupid as fuck, this entire fic is a conversation so a lot of people get mentioned, this would have been a lot longer if I hadn't been on such a hurry to finish it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 07:19:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10986117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmonksTheMuse/pseuds/SmonksTheMuse
Summary: Prompt from anonymous on tumblr: "A post-RotJ 3-sentence request where Luke meets Qui-Gon's Force-ghost and they talk about Anakin's turn to the Dark Side and the Jedi Council's flaws?"Due to the complex nature of the requested premise, it ended up being a little longer than three sentences.





	ghost of the past

“Luke.”

Luke's head snapped up and hit the wall behind him. Hard.

“My apologies,” the voice said, gently amused. “I didn't mean to startle you.”

Luke winced, rubbing the back of his head. He looked around his quarters, squinting in the dim light for whoever was speaking. But there was no one there; the room was empty. "Who's there?" he asked cautiously.

From the corner of his eye he saw something begin to glow in the darkness. He slid off the bed where he’d been sitting meditating, and stood; this particular glow was familiar to him.

Soon, a figure took shape, pale blue and fuzzy at the edges. It was a man, a Force Ghost, but Luke didn’t recognize him. It seemed he knew Luke, though, if his familiarity with Luke’s name was anything to go by.

“Hello, Luke,” the man said warmly. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you. My name is Qui-Gon Jinn; I'm an old friend of Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Luke wasn’t quite sure what to do, so he decided to bow. “Hello, Master Jinn,” he said respectfully. He straightened up and stepped closer, curious. "You know Ben?"

"Indeed; I've known him since he was a boy. He was my padawan."

Luke blinked, surprised. “You were Ben’s Master? I thought Master Yoda trained him.”

“Master Yoda had a part in his training; he had a hand in the education of every Jedi youngling, actually. In fact, that’s part of what I came here to discuss with you.”

Master Jinn gestured to the bed, and Luke sat down. “Discuss, Master?”

“Yes,” he said, sitting down beside him. “I have heard that you have plans in the future to begin training other Force Sensitives; you wish to rebuild the Jedi Order, is that correct?”

Luke nodded. “Yes. I want to have a school, someday, where I can teach others. Did Ben tell you about that?”

“He and your father both, yes.”

Luke’s eyes widened. “You know my father too?”

Master Jinn’s mouth twitched. “Trust me, Luke,” he said wryly. “ _ Everyone _ knows Anakin.”

“Oh.” Luke looked down at his lap. “I guess they would,” he said quietly.

“No, no, that’s not -” Master Jinn sighed. “What I meant is, yes. I know your father. I met him when he was very young, though we didn’t have much time together before I fell in battle. He’s the other thing I came to speak with you about.”

Luke wanted to ask about Master Jinn’s death in combat, but he doubted it would be an appropriate question. So instead he turned his curiosity to Master Jinn’s last statement, and the situation at hand.

“What is it you wish to tell me, Master?” he asked. “You sound very serious.”

“I am,” Master Jinn said. He paused for a moment, thinking, then said, “We’ll talk about your father, first, and then the Jedi Order. They are connected topics, you see.” Luke leaned forward attentively, and Master Jinn began.

“I met your father when he was nine years old, still a slave on Tatooine…”

\--

“… and so, despite the Council’s earlier decision, they relented; your father was permitted to join the Jedi Order, and Obi-Wan was allowed to be his teacher.”

“Wow…” Luke couldn’t think of what else to say. Master Jinn’s story was quite a lot to take in. After a minute of silence, he asked, “Why didn’t the Council want to take him? I understand having age limits, but… why have age limits at all? And why wouldn’t they exempt my father from the rule, if they thought he could be the Chosen One? Didn’t they know he’d have nowhere else to go, if they didn’t take him?”

The questions spilled out, one right after the other, and Luke would feel a little embarrassed at practically interrogating a Jedi Master like this if he didn’t need to know so badly.

Master Jinn looked at him with a mix of fondness and sadness. “You’re asking all the right questions, Luke. And none of them have simple answers.”

He sighed. “The Jedi Order believed that strong, uncontrolled emotions were a gateway to the Dark Side. Fear, anger, jealousy, hatred. Even love. And while it’s true that a Jedi needs self-control to resist being led down a Dark path by their emotions, we ended up turning to extremism in our effort to rise above it. A rule was made, and strictly enforced: Jedi were not allowed to form emotional attachments with others.”

“ _ What? _ ” Luke stared in disbelief. ‘Not allowed to form emotional attachments with others’? “That’s - that’s not even  _ possible _ ,” he said. “Everyone forms attachments with others! People have friends and family, and people they love! That rule is just -”

“Ridiculous?” Master Jinn interrupted. “Impossible? Unhealthy? Outright stupid?”

“ _ Yes, _ ” Luke agreed emphatically.

Master Jinn huffed a laugh, quirking his lips into a smile. “I got into a number of…  _ debates,  _ about that rule while I was alive, with everyone from my fellow Knights and Masters to Yoda himself. But that rule is why your father was at first rejected by the Council.”

“The Jedi had an age limit because they believed that Force-Sensitives who had not grown up in the Temple, living by that rule - people who already had emotional attachments and were accustomed to forming them - would fall to the Dark Side if they were trained in the ways of the Force. They believed that only those who were raised within the fold could be trusted with their power, and so they refused to train anyone from the outside.”

Luke had a cold, uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. “That sounds… like a cult,” he said.

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Master Jinn murmured. “And looking back, I see frighteningly few differences.’

They were quiet for a few moments, Master Jinn presumably as lost in his own thoughts as Luke was in his. Was that rule why Yoda hadn’t wanted to train him when Luke met him on Dagobah? Because Luke was used to forming attachments, and he knew that it wasn’t wrong? Was that why Yoda had told Luke not to save his friends when he sensed they were in danger? Not just because Luke wasn’t ready, but because he wanted Luke to be ‘free’ of his attachments?

“Even though your father was eventually, begrudgingly accepted,” Master Jinn said eventually, “he was watched closely. The ‘no attachments’ rule was drilled into his head day and night. Any perceived slips or failures to comply with that rule, or any other rule, were pointed out immediately, and he would be criticized; by other padawans, by Knights and Masters, by the Council, and by Obi-Wan. His difficult past - the fact that he had been a slave all his life - was not considered an excuse for any un-Jedi-like behavior.”

“As time went on, Anakin began to withdraw emotionally. Before, he had been a social, confident, friendly boy. But under the Jedi…” Master Jinn looked down at his hands, folded neatly in his lap. “Under the Jedi, he became meek, obedient, apologetic, self-conscious, and afraid. He walked on eggshells trying to please everyone, he didn’t voice his needs because he would be chastised for that neediness. He began to feel like he was wrong or bad somehow, because he didn’t act like the perfect Jedi. Because he needed what the Jedi told him he shouldn’t want.”

He looked back up, eyes distant. “The war - the clone wars - certainly didn’t help; they never do. Anakin was a general, and the clone troops he commanded were merely slaves under a different name, and he knew it. The missions he and Obi-Wan went on may have brought them closer, but Obi-Wan remained distant. Do not doubt the devotion he had to your father,” he said quickly; Luke must have looked as sad as he felt at hearing this. “Obi-Wan loved him, like a brother and a son at once. He cared very deeply. But Obi-Wan was raised under the ‘no attachments’ rule, and he was nearly as desperate as Anakin was to be seen as the perfect Jedi; he just managed to act the part better, thanks to years of practice.”

Master Jinn sighed. “And so, it ended up being that the only positive relationship Anakin had was with your mother.”

Luke sat up straight. “My mother?”

“Yes. She was an incredible woman; kind, intelligent, strong. There was no one like her in the Galaxy. Anakin loved her more than anyone.” Master Jinn tilted his head at Luke’s eager attentiveness. “Has your father told you much about her?”

“No,” Luke said. “It’s only been a few days since he - well, since he died. I haven’t brought it up yet. But I’ve been wondering.”

Master Jinn nodded. “Then I will leave it to Anakin to describe her, and their relationship.” Luke had to restrain himself from making a noise of disappointment, but the sentiment must have shown on his face anyway. Master Jinn chuckled. “All in due time, Luke,” he said fondly. “Your father will tell you about her, don’t worry.”

Luke bit his lip, then said, “Was she really the only person in his life he had a healthy relationship with?”

“I’m afraid so,” Master Jinn said regretfully. “She was the only person he felt he could be open and honest with. Except…” his face darkened. “Palpatine.”

Luke blinked in shock. “ _ Emperor _ Palpatine?” he said. “They were close before the Empire?”

“Oh, yes,” Master Jinn said bitterly. “Back in the days on the Republic, when he represented Naboo in the Galactic Senate. He met Anakin just after he had been accepted into the Order, after your father had become a hero for his actions during the Battle of Naboo.”

“Palpatine took an immediate interest in Anakin. He befriended him, fashioned himself a sort of mentor. A kind, older and wiser man whom Anakin could always turn to for a sympathetic ear and advice. He was understanding, nonjudgmental, quick to give praise. He made sure he became Anakin’s  _ other _ positive relationship.” Luke had the feeling that if Jinn hadn’t been a calm, disciplined, one-with-the-Force Jedi Master, the already-fierce look on his face would have been something truly terrifying. “But as you know,” he said lowly, “he turned out to be Sith Lord.”

“Did he…” Luke swallowed and tried again. He already knew the answer to his question, but he had to be sure. “Did he convince my father to join him? To turn to the Dark Side?”

Master Jinn was silent for a moment, then, “Yes. He did.”

Luke closed his eyes. “How did he do it?” he asked quietly. “What did he offer my father? What did he say to make him believe it was right?”

Master Jinn was again silent, this time for longer. Eventually, he said, “He offered the power to save lives.”

Luke’s eyes snapped open. “What?” He looked beside him, but Master Jinn was gone. Luke was alone in his room, except for the light trace of the man’s presence he could sense, and the whispered parting words.

“Ask your father, Luke. This is his story to tell.”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic and others can be found on my tumblr: vintage-smokestack.tumblr.com


End file.
